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Introduction

Introduction to Career Awareness

NHS Medical Careers provides guidance on
how to begin planning for your career well before you reach the
stage where you have to apply for a particular specialty.

Medical school is a chance for you to learn
more about yourself and what aspects of medical work you enjoy (or
don’t like so much). You are also provided with many opportunities
to explore different specialties and we would advocate that you
make the most of these.

Developing career awareness as early as
possible will be key to your success to finding a fulfilling role
later on in your professional life.

Making the most of your years at medical
school

Using your years at medical school to their full potential can
also help you in your foundation applications and is a good basis
for building on your experience for applications you may make
further on in your career.

A career in medicine is highly competitive;
therefore it goes without saying that trying to do your best
academically at university is important as well as making an effort
to gain extra experiences / academic achievements (e.g.
posters/publications/BSc/prizes) to distinguish yourself. As well
as the academic aspect to medical school you are presented with
many opportunities that if approached with just a bit of extra
thought can help you in making a career decision later on in life.
Therefore, we have information on how you can make the most of the
following opportunities available:

(You can look at the menu on the left-hand pane for further
pages of information for medical students).

Finally, your medical school will have a careers
advisory service, so make the most of them. We would advise you to
try to go at least once during your time at medical school. Your
careers service will usually have quick drop in sessions, of 15 or
20 minutes where you can talk confidentially on a one to one basis
with a careers adviser. This can sometimes lead to a longer session
if it is felt necessary.